Imagine you are a citizen racing across newspapers rapid fire. As you flip the pages you run across events like the Vedanta mining case, the Koodankulam nuclear controversy, the debate on poverty and reports about climate change. Each of these can be a life-threatening event and none of them have a life support system of knowledge which allows them to be debated in the open. The basic information comes from...

“Entire public hearing was farce and makes mockery of public hearing process” In a significant decision the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday set aside the Environmental Clearance (EC) granted to the 4 MTPA coal mining Project of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and 4 MTPA Coal Washery at Gare in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh on grounds of faulty public hearing. The company had been granted environmental clearance in May 2009....

Bidders for upcoming ultra mega power plants in Odisha and Chattisgarh will have to pay a reserve price to the state government for coal mines that come bundled with the project, ending a long established policy regime in which the mines were allotted free. The coal ministry is in the process of finalizing norms for calculating the reserve price for the mines, bidding norms and a model agreement for which it...

A panel set up to review norms for no-go areas that will protect certain areas from commercial activity is likely to recommend mining should be disallowed in all national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the country. Sources in the government told TOI that the committee, headed by the Union environment and forests secretary, is likely to close the debate over no-go areas as it is not inclined to reassess protected areas...

-The Business Standard   The Union government on Thursday approached the Supreme Court with a presidential reference on various issues relating to its recent judgment in the 2G spectrum scam. The apex court, meanwhile, would take up the government's review petition tomorrow. The presidential reference, under Article 143 of the Constitution, and the review petition raise similar issues. The main concern of the government is the perceived interference of the judiciary in the...